Infanta María de la Paz of Spain | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Princess Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria | |||||
Born |
Madrid, Spain |
June 23, 1862||||
Died | December 4, 1946 Munich |
(aged 84)||||
Spouse | Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria | ||||
Issue |
Prince Ferdinand of Bavaria Prince Adalbert of Bavaria Princess Pilar of Bavaria |
||||
|
|||||
House | House of Bourbon | ||||
Father | Francisco de Asís of Spain | ||||
Mother | Isabella II of Spain |
Full name | |
---|---|
María de la Paz Juana Amelia Adalberta Francisca de Paula Juana Bautista Isabel Francisca de Asís de Borbón y Borbón |
María de la Paz of Spain (María de la Paz de Borbón y Borbón) (Madrid, June 23, 1862 – Schloss Nymphenburg, Munich, December 4, 1946) was an infanta of Spain. A daughter of Queen Isabella II of Spain, she married her first cousin Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria. She lived for the rest of her life in Germany, dedicating her time to her family, charity work and writing poetry. She wrote a book of memoirs:Through Four Revolutions: 1862-1933.
Born at the Royal Palace of Madrid on June 23, 1862, Infanta Paz was the third surviving daughter of Queen Isabella II and her husband Francisco of Spain. At age sixteen, Isabella II was forced to marry Francisco, Duke of Cádiz who was twice her first cousin. Isabella, who despised her effeminate husband, found an outlet for her passionate nature with a string of lovers. The relationship between King Francisco and his reputed children was cold and formal. Isabella II, preoccupied with her turbulent reign and her private life, alternated between periods of great affection towards her children and the distant approach to childhood that was the custom of the time.
According to historians, the biological father of Infanta Paz was the diplomat and politician Miguel Tenorio de Castilla (1818-1916), who was secretary of Queen Isabella II for several years.
Infanta Paz probably also suspected that Tenorio de Castilla was her natural father. In 1890, in his old age, Tenorio de Castilla settled in a suite on the south wing of Schloss Nymphenburg, Paz’s residence. He lived there for twenty-six years until his death on December 11, 1916. He bequeathed all his belongings to Infanta Paz, who accepted them as his universal heir.
Infanta Paz was baptized by the archbishop of Toledo with the names María de la Paz Juana Amelia Adalberta Francisca de Paula Juana Bautista Isabel Francisca de Asis. Her godmother was her paternal aunt Infanta Amalia of Spain, Princess of Bavaria. In her first years, Infanta Paz was raised alongside her sisters Infantas Pilar and Eulalia in a wing of the Royal palace of Madrid. In the formal atmosphere of the Spanish court, the little infantas had little contact with their parents.